strath

plural straths

1. IrelandScotlandA wide, flat river valley.

   Agatha and Inga rode their horses with style across the strath.

   1972, George Mackay Brown, chapter VI, in Greenvoe […], London: The Hogarth Press, published 1975, →ISBN, page 273

   3 more examples

   [T]hoſe fair Straths that vvater’d are / VVith Tay and Tvveed’s ſmooth Streams, / VVhich gentily and daintily / Eat dovvn the flovvry Braes; / As greatly and quietly / They vvimple to the Seas.

   1720, Allan Ramsay, “The Poet’s Wish: An Ode”, in Poems, Edinburgh: Printed for the author […] [and sold by T. Jauncy […]], →OCLC, page 359

   [T]he other stream, which had its source among the mountains on the left hand of the strath, seemed to issue from a very narrow and dark opening betwixt two large rocks.

   1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], “Highland Minstrelsy”, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 334

   The place of exit from the hills of one or other of the Punjab rivers could generally be pointed out to me; the straths and gorges that opened upon the plains would often afford a peep into the interior of the mountains, and the snowy ranges would be seen at the end of them.

   1874, Bayard Taylor, compiler, “[Godfrey Thomas] Vigne’s Journey to Cashmere”, in Central Asia. Travels in Cashmere, Little Tibet, and Central Asia (Illustrated Library of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure), New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Armstrong, and Company, →OCLC, pages 50–51

2. IrelandScotlandA piece of flat land beside a body of water.

   [T]he place is pretty pleasant, close by Forth waterside, att the foot of Craigmor, betwixt which and the watar there is a strath very proper for walking: […]

   1699 May 24 (date written; Gregorian calendar), George Turnbull, “The Diary of the Rev. George Turnbull, Minister of Alloa and Tyninghame, 1657–1704 […]”, in Robert Paul, editor, Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press by T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable for the Scottish History Society, published 1893, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 383

1. University of Strathclyde, used especially following post-nominal letters indicating status as a graduate.